Monthly Archives: January 2016

After great deal of stress I can safely say that my graduate school application has been filed. Over the majority of late November, early December and the holidays I slowly gathered my materials and sorted through this arduous process. While it was stressful it was very helpful to have the full support of the History Department.

It is not surprising the amount of forms and papers that must be submitted during the process. What is surprising though is how complicated submitting the actual application is. At first glance it appears as though you just get your papers ready and then upload them all in one place. Then again, it could have just been my naive brain tricking me (yet again). Nevertheless, with a little over a week before the deadline I found myself in an absolute panic over learning where to actually upload the files and find out where I actually send the application fee. Again though, thanks to the great help of the department I was able to find answers.

In addition I met with the department’s current Graduate Studies Chair, Dr Lipsett-Rivera and Dr Graham to discuss my application. During this meeting I heard some very promising news that my lower grades from my earlier years (which were caused by lack of accommodation) will not hurt me as much so long as there is a general upward trend in my later years. This of course is no promise that I will get in to the program, but it was a relief to know that it is understood why those grades are where they are. Another interesting thing that came out of that meeting was a discussion over what possible TA roles I could see myself fulfilling.

To be honest being a TA has been on my mind over the past few years. At first I was a little hesitant as it seemed to be a daunting task to undertake on top of taking classes. However, over the later years of my undergrad, and now this year, I have gotten better and better at managing my time. Therefore I feel confident that I could take on a challenge like that. So during the meeting we agreed that I would be able to do such things as run tutorial groups, mark papers on the computer, or under Dr Graham’s suggestion run online forums.

So after a great deal of stress leading up to the later part of this week, I was able to successfully submit my application on the day of the deadline to qualify for funding. Now comes the hard part of waiting…